


Inexplicable

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Fireside Tales [69]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-02-13
Packaged: 2018-01-12 04:11:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1181729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watching the former major lounge in the chair in the isolation room, Jack drums his fingers against the file he's gone over again and again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inexplicable

**Author's Note:**

> Jack O'Neill, after capturing John Sheppard  
> Prompt: Scrutiny  
> Alternate Universe: Supreme System Lord

Sheppard is not the sort of person to yield under pressure, not even the close scrutiny of some of the most intimidating people Jack can send in to interrogate the man. It's there in his file, his refusal to admit to having done anything wrong when he went against direct orders to rescue men shot down behind enemy lines - although that makes Jack want to know just what the rest of the Air Force was thinking, leaving a man who'd do the right thing out in the cold where he could be picked up by as dangerous an enemy as Baal.

Watching the former major lounge in the chair in the isolation room, Jack drums his fingers against the file he's gone over again and again to find a way to leverage the man that those returned from Atlantis had said was the one left in charge of the city. One of the two, actually, along with a black-listed scientist named McKay, who isn't likely to be host to a goa'uld, not when he and Sheppard are sharing power.

And it's curious why Baal would trust a pair of humans without goa'uld in their heads to hold Atlantis for him. It's not normal for any goa'uld, and while Baal is unusual, Jack would never have thought him that strange in comparison.

Janet comes in, holding a file of her own, looking at the man in the room for a long moment before she hands it to Jack. "He's positive for the ATA gene."

That goes a long way to explaining why Baal would want Sheppard on Atlantis, but it makes his willingness to trust Sheppard with the city even more inexplicable, in Jack's mind. How did someone like Baal manage to gain Sheppard's loyalty?

"He also has the protein markers of having been a host, and naquedah in his blood, but there's no other evidence of a symbiote." Janet is looking at Sheppard with a small frown on her face. "No scars on his neck or in his throat, nothing along his spine."

"Could that have been removed with a goa'uld healing device, or a sarcophagus?" Jack knows that not all of his old scars were healed by his repeated cycles in the sarcophagus when Baal held him, though some of the newest ones had vanished as if they didn't exist.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure that's the case. There are scars that don't match anything in his records, and a few that look very new." Janet shakes her head. "If I had to guess, I'd think that he was given some sort of treatment that would leave those markers in his blood. It's not like tretonin, though, his immune system shows no signs of deteriorating since his arrival."

"Thank you." Jack glances at the file Janet had handed him, before adding it to the other he's holding. Looking in at Sheppard again for a moment, then grimacing before he leaves the observation room. He'll have to let others do the interrogation for him, and hope that they find out why Sheppard was working with Baal, and why he'd all but let the SGC capture him.

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, Jack is still in charge of the SGC, as he prefers it to the more political role of being in charge of Homeworld Security, and has actively turned down that particular post when offered it. Right now, though, he's thinking he should have taken it, as it would leave the headache that is John Sheppard to someone else for a while.


End file.
